by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - He wakes up every morning in his palatial home, with spring-training baseball games going on all around him, but has no place to go.

He has no job. No impending contract. No team.

Kyle Lohse, with the 2013 season opening on March 31, remains standing in baseball's unemployment line.

Lohse could step from his 8,700-square foot dwelling onto any baseball field in the Valley and immediately be better than virtually any pitcher that's appeared in the Cactus League this spring.

Instead, he will open his car Friday morning, stuff his baseball equipment bag in the trunk, and drive 20 minutes to a local community college. He's scheduled to throw 90 pitches in a simulated game against a group of teenagers. There will be no fanfare, let alone a fan, in sight.

"I'm in an awkward spot,'' Lohse tells USA TODAY Sports, in what may be the greatest understatement of the spring.

Lohse, 34, is coming off the greatest season of his career, dominating the National League Central for the second consecutive year. He went 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA, and had the Cardinals within one game of the World Series. He finished seventh in the National League Cy Young balloting.

Yet, with only 10 days before opening day, as he mixes in workouts at state-of-the-art Fischer Sports and his golf game at private and picturesque Whisper Rock, he's still awaiting a phone call telling him he has a job.

Agent Scott Boras, just as he has the last five months, tells Lohse to be patient. He says Lohse will still get paid handsomely. Teams will panic once they realize their young pitchers can't cut it, Boras predicts.

"I don't understand why people think his value will drop,'' Boras says. "His value only rises because there's a greater need now. The demand for him is created by attrition when teams learn that their younger pitching can't meet their need.

Boras instead does the talking, infuriated over baseball's new free-agent compensation system, believing it's ruining the game. Teams are now provided the option of tendering a qualifying offer of $13.3 million to their own free agents to receive draft pick compensation, providing the player rejects the offer and signs elsewhere. Besides the loss of a draft pick, teams also forfeit future money in the amateur draft.

"The integrity of the game has been compromised,'' Boras tells USA TODAY Sports. "What baseball has done, it has created a dynamic where draft dollars are affecting the major leaguers. Teams are constructing clubs to be non-competitive, like Houston and Miami, so they can position themselves where they can get more draft dollars. Clubs are trying to finish last to create more draft dollars. And this dramatically affects the wild-card and major-league standings.''

Certainly, the American League West greatly benefits having the low-budget Astros joining the division this year. The Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners will play 22 to 23 games against the Astros and Chicago Cubs - who combined for 208 losses last year - giving them a potentially huge advantage in the wild-card races.

"The integrity of the game,'' Boras says, "is very damaged by this system. Draft dollars is the latest currency for GMs. And the best way to earn draft dollars is to sabotage your major-league team and finish last.''

Boras says it's disgraceful that first baseman Adam LaRoche, who returned to Washington after hitting 33 homers and driving in 100 runs last season, is earning nearly half of what outfielder Shane Victorino received from the Boston Red Sox. LaRoche, who had a first-round draft pick tied to him, and who is not a Boras client, received a two-year, $24 million contract. Victorino, with no draft pick compensation, received a three-year, $39 million deal.

Victorino batted .255 and his Wins Above Replacement was 1.1. LaRoche batted .299, with a 4.0 WAR, and had a .510 slugging percentage to Victorino's .351.

"Before, teams never minded giving up a first round draft pick,'' Boras says, "because they still had the money to sign their players in the lower rounds. Now, you've taken away the structure of the scouting and developing. They have stolen our youth. They have kidnapped our children in this system.''

Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball executive vice president of labor relations, says he doesn't hear the same complaints, and makes it perfectly clear that it won't be revamped simply because of Lohse.

"It is important to focus on all the changes to the system of draft choice compensation,'' Manfred told USA TODAY Sports. "A large number of players were freed from the burden of compensation completely, and those players undoubtedly received better contracts as a result. We have not heard any one raising questions as to whether the system is working for those players.

"We also wanted to limit compensation to those players who were valuable enough that they could bear the burden of compensation, and still sign. With one exception, the system for those players as well. For example, Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher signed big multi-year deals [with Cleveland].

"The fact that one Scott Boras client has not signed does not convince me that the system is broken.''

Yet, Boras says, there wasn't a single team willing to forfeit a first round pick make an offer on Bourn, either.

"It would have been nice,'' Boras says, "to have 20 other teams bid on you.''

Veteran agent Larry Reynolds, who represents center fielder B.J. Upton, says he found no problems with the new compensation system. The Atlanta Braves signed Upton to a five-year, $75.25 million free-agent contract on Nov. 28, and within eight days, the Minnesota Twins traded center fielders Denard Span and Ben Revere. It left free-agent center fielder Michael Bourn scrambling all winter before signing a four-year, $48 million deal with Cleveland.

"To say that that draft compensation is the sole reason for a free-agent player having trouble in this market,'' Reynolds says, "in my opinion, is misleading. There are a number of variables that come into play in my mind when you're trying to secure free-agent contracts. We were concerned about potential trades, concerned about the number of free-agent center fielders, and is always the case, what clubs are willing to pay for that free agent.''

It doesn't matter now whether the system needs an overhaul, or Lohse and Boras need to seriously revise their strategy.

Lohse needs a job. Time is running out.

Playing golf at Whisper Rock is one of life's little pleasures, but without a job, those darn green fees sure can add up.